Massachusetts Conrad 30 / J-1 Visa Waiver Program

Massachusetts Conrad 30 / J-1 Visa Waiver Program

November 2016

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (The Department) through the Conrad-30 / J-1 Visa Waiver Program supports employment requests for J-1 visa physicians in sites that have a history of serving the state’s medically underserved populations. The Massachusetts J-1 Visa Waiver Program is implemented in accordance with its authority under Section 214(l) of the Immigration Nationality Act, to assist physician recruitment by supporting J-1 visa waiver requests from health care facilities located in federally designated underserved areas.

The Massachusetts visa waiver program is administered by the Health Care Workforce Center.

Application Deadlines

October 1 – December 31: Applications are accepted.

March 1: Notification of Department support status is sent by or before March 1.

Should slots remain available a second review may be conducted.

Priority Designations

Priority Physicians: Primary care providers continue to be a priority for Massachusetts, although applications for both primary care and specialist positions are accepted. Primary Care is interpreted to include internal medicine, pediatrics, family practice, obstetrics-gynecology, geriatrics, and psychiatry.

Specialty physician applications must have documentation of the wait times for specialty care along with other noted shortages.

Priority Sites: Community Health Centers and hospitals with federally qualifying disproportionate share percentages or other measure of high utilization by underserved populations receive priority.

(Please see the program policy document for details)

NOTE: Applicant agencies or employers must accept public insurance, and offer discounts to low-income or uninsured patients on a sliding fee scale that at a minimum follows the federal poverty level (see (http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/).

Additional Information

Flex Applications: The Conrad legislation authorizes up to ten (10) Flex slots to place physicians in practice sites not located in a federally designated shortage area, if the facility serves patients who reside in one or more federally designated shortage areas. The Massachusetts Conrad 30 / J-1 Visa Waiver Program requires that the facility provide documentation that greater than 30% of the patients served by the site are located in federal shortage areas, and provide poverty levels, disparate health outcomes, or note of significant immigrant or elderly populations or substance abuse.

A payer mix breakdown must be included in the application. The payer mix indicates both the agency payer mix breakdown and that of the physician who is or will be practicing at the site.

Reference the policy document for full details about the program (see clickable icons below).